DR. TALMAG'_S SERMO
The age orSwind e.
'*whoe truet shallbo a lpkoidor's Wob." Job
8: 4.
'rin Et most skilful tihilrtts li all
the world are the bee and. tl}o spido r,
The one puts up a sugar "4lufa,toy1
and the other builds a' slaug4ter-hous
for files. On a bright suaie "* torni
ing, when the sun comes out aqd sh.1id6
upon the spider's web, bedecked with
dew, the gossamer structure seems
bright enough. for a suspension bridge
for eupernaturhl belngs'o gross on.
But alas for the poor fWy,which, in the
latter part of the day, ventures on it,
and is caught aid dungeoued'and de
stroyed. The Ay was' iuforniod that
was a free bridge, and would cost notll
ig, but at the other end of the bridge
the toil paid was, its own life.! The
next day thero comes down a strong
wind, and away goes the web, and
TIE NARAUDING SPIDER,
and the 'vi 3nized fly. So delicato are
the 'silken _threads of.tho spider's web
that many thousands of them are put
together before they become visible to
the huninx 'eye, and it takes four mil
lion of.them to make a-thread as large
- as the human hair., Most cruel as well
as most ingenious is the spider. A pri
soner in the Bastille, France had one
so trained that at the soundo a Violin
it every day caine. for its nieal of files.
Job, the author my text, and the lead
lug scientist' of his, day, had no doubt
watched" the voracious process of this
no'insect with another, and saw spider
and fly sWept dowh with the satne
broom, or seattered by the same wind.
Alas, that the world-lths so 'nany de
signing spiders and vietimized fliesi
There has not been a time when the
utter and black irresponsibility of many
men, having the financial interests of
ot hers in charge, has been more evident
thai, in these last few years. . The un
rooiing of banks and disappearance of
admi iuis'rators -with the funds of large
estateti, and the disorder .amidst post
onice accounts and deficits amid United
States offcials, have made
A rEsT41,ENCE OlF CRIME
that soemnizes every thoughtful man
and woman, and leads every philan
thropist and Christian to ask. What
shall"be doie to stay the plague? There
is a monsoon abroad, a typhoon, a
sirocco. I sometimes ask myself if it
would not be better for men making
wills to bequeath the property directly
to the executors and officers of the
court, and appoint the widows and or
phans a committee to see that the form
er got all that did not belong to them.
- The simple fact is that there are a
large number of men sailing yachts,
and driving fast horses, and members
of expensive club houses,, and controll
ing country-seats, who are not worth a
dollar if they return to others their just
rights. Under some shdden reverse they
fail, and withafflicted air seem to retire
from the world and seem almost ready
for monastic life, when in two or three
years they blossom out again, having
compromised with their creditors; that
Is, paid them nothing but regrets,' and
the only difference between the second
chapter of prospei'ity and the first, is
that their pictures are Murillos instead
.of Kensetts, and their horses go a mile
n twenty seconds less than their pre
decessors, and instead of one country
seat they have three. I have watched
and have noticed that nine out of ten
of those who fail 'in what is called high'
life, have more means after than be
fore the failure, and in many of the
cases failure is only a stratagem to es
cape the payment of honest debts and
put the .world off the 'track while they
\practice a large' swindle. There Is
something woefully wrong in' the fact
~"hat these things are possible.
First.af all, I chairge the blame on
cat eless, "~,
IN r)nFEFIT nANK DIIRECTOR'S
and boards having\ in charge great fin
ancial Institutions.' It ought not to be
possible for a presiiint or caishier 'or
prominent officer of ,banliing 'In'stitu
tion to swindle It year ilter' 3ear with
out detection, I will uh dertake to say
that if these frauds are 4arried on for
two or' three' 'years witlhout detection,
either the directors are partners in the
infamy and pocketed part of the theft,
or they are guilty of a culpable. neglect
of duty, for which God will-hold them
as responsible as HIe.holds the acknow
ledged defrauders. Whpmt right have
p)rominent business men to allow their
ndmnes to be published as dirctors in
a finitucial Institution, so that 1mnso
phisticated people are thereby induced to
.deposit their money in or buy the scrip
thereof, when they, the published ai
rectors, are doing nothing for the safe
ty of the Institution? It Is a case of
*decepti6n most rep)rehensible.
M1any people wilth a surplus of money
not needed for immediate use, although
it may be a little further on indespensa
ble, are without friends competent to
advise them, and they are guided solely
by the character of the men whose
names are associated with the institu
tioni. -When the crash came, and with
the overthrow oh. the bank~s went the
sma&lh earnings and limited fortunes of
widows and orphans, and the helplessly
aged, the directors stood with Idiotic
stare, and to the inquiry of the frenZied
depositors and stockholders who had
lost their all, and to the arraignment of
an indignant p)ublic, hugl nothing .to
say eept': "We thought It was all
right. We did not kuiew there was anmy
thing wrong going on." It was
TfliEIR DUTY TO KNOw.
- They stood' in' a position 'which deluded
tl ., people with'the idea 'that they were
caYefiilly observant. Callinig themselves
*direcofis; they did not direct. They
huld opportunity'of auditing accouIits
and inspecting the books. No time to
'do so? Then th~ey had no business to
accept the,pbsitioca It seems.to be the
pride of some muonled men to be direc
tors in a great many institutions, ind
all they know is.Whether or not: he
get their dividendereuary and 'er
names are:use;4 as decoy ducks to;bring
others niear enough-to hea iiade game of,
What first of all' is needed is that 5,000
banK directors and' insuratice company
di,rectiors resign .or attend to their bus!
ness as directok's. The business world
will be full of fraud just as lomig as
-prepideiit iil eeorotar ' f a ~a ,for
an ,adbezzlemeht +catledo o many
y ha I,hve p1 ty of al Qr Us, At the
same day to arrest all the directors.
They are guilty either of. negiet. or
complicity,
aotheosel and et bt i at.
.; Zlo "%))9y:! I your gospel
does ?t i apre Co non hon,igy;n the
doalipgs of, men, the .;.sone .o 'n close
up your g el and pitch it .nto the
depths of the Atlantic Ocean the bet
ter.
AN ORTHODOX SWINDLER
18 wdrse than i heter6dtxcewindlerb The.
recitation of all the oatheohismi and
creeds ever written, and drinking from
all the communion chalices thpt, ever
glittered -in the churches of Ohrit~
dotn, will', never save ur soul unless
your business chara'c r corresponds
with your religious profession, oome
of the worst, scoundrels in Aneric
have been members of churches,. and
they got fat on sermons about heaven,
when they nodst needed to'litVe6 thet pul
t . preach tbt, which ifould either
ring 'them to eentanoe or thunder
then out of the holy:commimion, where
their presence was a sacrilege and an
infamy.
We must especially deplore the mis
fortune of banks in various parts of
this country, in that they damage the
banging institutio), which is the great.
convenience of the century, and' Indis
pensable to commerce and the advance
of nations. With one hand it blesses
the lender, and with the other it blesses
the borrower.
TILE BANK WAS nORN
of the world's necessities and is.venor
able with the marks or thousands of
years. Two hundred years before
Christ the Bank of Ilium existed, and
paid its depositors ten per cent. The
Bank of Venice was established in 1171,
and was of such high credit that its
bills were at a premium above coins,
which were frequently clipped; Bank
of Genoa, founded in 1345, Bank of
Barcelona 1401; Bank of Amsterdam,
1699; Bai of Hamburg, founded 1619,
its circulation based on great silver bars
kept in the vaults; Bank of England,
started by William Patterson in 1642,
u p to this day managing the stupen
dous . b of England: Bank of Scot
land, founded in 1695; Bank of Ireland,
1783. Bank of North America, plan
ned by Robert Morris, 1771, without
whose financial help all the bravery of
our grandfathers would not have
achieved independence.
But now we have banks In all our
cities and towns, thousands and thous
ands. On their shoulders are the in
terests of private individuals and great
corporations. In them are the great
arteries through which run the currents
of the nation's life. They have-been
the resources of thousands -of financies
in days of business exigency. They
stand for accommodation, for facility,
for individual, State and national re
lief. At their head and in their man
agement there is as much interest and
moral worth as in any class of men
perhaps more. How nefarious, then,
the behavior of those who bring disre
pute upon this venerable, -benignant
and God-honored institution!
We also deplore the abuse of trust
funds, because they fly iI4 the face of
that divine goodness whici aseems de
termined to bless this land. We are
having the eighth year of unexampled
national harvest. The
WH[EAT GAMBLERs
get hold of the wheat, and the corn
gamblers get hold of the corn. The
full tide of God's mercy towards this
land is put back by those great dykes
of dishonest resistance. .When God
provides enough food and clothing to
feed and apparel this whole nation like.
princes, the scrabble of' dishonesF men
to get more tihan their share, and get it
at all hazards, keeps everything shak.
ing with uncertsaity and everybody
asking,- "What'next?'' Evei-y week
makes new revelations, Hlow many
more bank presidents and bank cashiers
have been speculating with other peo
ple's money, and how many mo're bank
directors are in imbecile silence, letting
the perfidy go on, the great and patient
God only knows!
My opinion is that we have got near
'the bottom. Th6 wind has been pick
ed from the great bubble of Amc'rican
spe':ulZationa. The men wvho thiought
that the Judgment Day wvas at least
5,000 years off, have found it in 1888,
1887, 1886; and this nation has been
tauight that men must keep their hands
out* of other people's pock-ets. Great
businesses built on borrowed 'capital
havO been obliterated, and men wvho had
nothing, lost all they had. .1 believe
we are started on a higher career of
prosperity than this land has evei' seen,
If, and if, and if'.
If the first men, and espedially Chis
tian meni, will learn never to speculate
BlOR~ROWED CAPITAL.
If you have a mind to 'take your own
money, and turn it all Into kites, to fly
them over' every commons of the United
States, you do society no wrong, except
when you tumble your helpless children
into the poorhouse for the p)ublic to
take care of. '' But you have no right to
take the money of others and turn it in
to kites. There is one Word that has
deluded more people into bankruptcy
and State prison and perdition than any
other word in commercial life, and that
is the aiord .borrow;i that one word is re
sponsible for' all the defalcations, and
embezzlem'ents, and financial consternma
tions of the la3t twenty 'yetfs/ When
execgtors conolude ,to speculate with
the funds of an estate committed to
thelir charge, they do not purloin, they
say
'IHEY ONLY BOnROW;
when a banker makes an overdraughmt
uipon his institution. lie does not corn
;mit a theft, 116 only borrows. When
tha oflcer of a company, by flaming ad
vertisement in some religious lpapers,
and git certineoate of stock, gets a mul
titie of country iie@eP to put their
smal earningu irdo an enterprise, for
carrying on some uidevelopeid notlbing',
he does not fratidulnntly take' their
-money, he only borrows.. , When a
young man with easy acess to his etr.
ployer's money-drawer, "r the conalden-'
tial clerk by close propinqunity to the
-acconni-book~s, takes a fewv dollars fortt
Walliftreet excursion, he expects to put
It1 a 1 ca hat i n el~ is sq u.bla
gigantio limb to ke hit- iaoe at t<
ou tbstone in front of Trinity Ohurol
and when that word borrow comee
bunWiqg .long, ok t ,1tcar- txroug)
to WAlli itreet fex y-b to anI if k
ing on that, it bounds clear over ill I1
strikes Brooklyn Heights or Bi klyii
ill,. it will be well for, the ity o
VOurones."
Why, when you are, going to do
wrong, prououne so long a word .:
borrow, a word of six letters, when yor
cau get .a shorter word more desorip
Atve of the. realit y,O -~o? of hoaly ilv(
e tters,' wor sea6 l
There are times when we all borrow,
and" -orrow legg'I ately, and bortow
vyith the divine essing for Christ, h:
Is ermon on the kount, enjolini
"from him that w9tgld borrow of thee,
tin nt thou aEyay." .4 young mar
rightly borrows money to get his educu
tion. Purchasiug a house and not abk
to pay all down in 0sh, the purchase3
rightly.borrows it on mortgage. Crises
come in business when it would bE
wrong for a man not to borrow. But
I roll this warning through all thesf
aisles, over the backs of all these pews,
NEVER BORROW TO SPECITLATE;
not a dollar, not a cent, not a farthingi
Young mot, yogng men, I warn you
by your orldly prospects mid the value
of your'ttumortal souls, do not do it]
There are breakers distinguished for
t ieir shipwrecks-the Hanways, the
Needles, the- Caskets, the Douvers, the
Anderlos, the Skerrles-and many a
craft has gone to pieces on those rocks;
but I have to tell you that all the Han
ways and the Needles, and the Caskets
and the Skerries, are as nothing com
pared with the long line of breakers
which bound the oceai of commercial
life 'north, south east and west, with
the white foam o? their despair and the
dirge of their damnation, The breakers
of borrow!
If I had only a worldly weapon to
use on this subject I would give you
the fact fresh from the highest author
ity, that ninety per cent. of those who
go Into speculation in Wall Street lose
all; but I have a better warning than a
worldly warning. From the place
where men have perished--body, mind
and soul-stand off, stand offt Ab
stract pulpit discussion must step aside
on this question. Faith and repentance
are absolutely Iecessary, but faith and
repentance are no more doctrines of the
Bible than
COMMJIIItCIAL INTEGItITY.
Render to all their dues. Owe no man
anything. And while I mean to preach
faith and repentance, more and more
to preach them, I do not mean to spend
any time in chasing the Hittites and
Jebusites and Girgashites of Bible
times, when there are so many evils
right ,akoiind us destroying men and
women for time and eternity. The
greatest evangelistic preacher the world
ever saw, a man who died for his evan
gelism--the peerless Paul-wrote to the
Romans, "Provide things honest In the
sight of all ien;" wrote, to the Corin
thians, "Do that which is honest;"
wrote to the.Pliipiians, "Whatsoever
things are honest;"' wrote to the He
brews, "Willing in all things to live
honestly." The Bible says that faith
without works is dead; which being
literally translated, means that if your
business life does not correspond wvith
your profession,' your religion is a hum
Here is something that needs to be
Sounded'into the ears of all the young
men of America, and i.rated and re
iterated, if this fs.onintry is ever to be
delivered froiv its calamities and com
mercial prosp)erity is to be-established
angl1petuated.
LIVE wITH[IN YOUR MIDANs.
I have'the highest commercial au
thority for saying, that when the menm
orable trouble broke out in Wall Street
four years ago, there were $22,000,000
In suspense, wvhich had already been
spent. Spend no mere than you make.
And let us adjust all our business and
our homes by the principles of the
Christian religion. Our religion ought
to mean just as much on Saturday and
Monday as on the day between, and
not be a mere periphrasis of sanctity,
Our religion ought to first clean our
hearts,'and thmen it'ought to clean our
lives. Rleligion is not, as soeie seemi to
think, a sort of church delectation, a
kind of confectionery, a sort of Apirit
ual caramel or holy gumdrop, or sancti
fied peppermint, or theological ames
thetic. It is an omnipotent principle,
all-controlling, all-conquering. You
mnay get along with something less than
that, and you may deceive yourself with
it; but you cannot deceive God, and you
cannot deceive the world.
The keen business man will p)ut on
his spectacles, and lhe ill look clear
through to the back of your head, and
see whether your religion Is a fiction or
a fact. And you cannot hide your
samples of sugar or rice or tea or coffee
If they are false; you cannot hide them
under the cloth of a ciummunion-table.
All your prayers go for nothing so long
as you misrepresent your banking In
stitution, and in the amount of re
sources you put down more specie and
mnore fractional currency and more
clearing-house certificates land more
legal-tender notes and more loans and
more discounts than there really are,
and when you give an account of your
liabilities you do not mention all the
unpaid dividends,. and the United
States bank nptes outstanding, and the
Individual deposits,'and> the obligatins
to other banks andl bankers. An au
thority more - scrutinizing than that of
any bank examiner will go through and
through your buAiness4
I stand this. morning before many
who have trust* funds. It is a compli.
raent to you 'that you 1h' e been so Ina
trusted; but I charge you, in the pros
enco of God and theo world, be careful,
be as
.OABERFUL OF' THlE PROPERTY O1
as you are careful of your own. (Above
all, keep your own private account ai
the bank separate -frov .y ur ac
count sus trutee 'of au estae o' trustei
of an istitution." T at Is the pint a'
which (h safds of ped~e m' o ship
wrecli'Th g$e the property f others
inixd .upWit thoi'owu pro ity, the)
put 4.t hito investmeait, anId 'a ey it al
goes, and they cannot return t t which
they borrowed. Then come .the cx
y fip;and'_d 1 moey iarket ie.
Sand the press denounces, and
tle phurch thunders explosion.. You
SI have no right' to use the property of
others, except for their advantage, anor,
without consent, unless they are
s minors. If with"tl}ir consent you in
'vest thbi by as Well as you can,
b and itis all lost you are not tp blame;
y6 did tli4 you.: could, but do nob
del,on hchl s ruined
bf -thinking because a
thing is,in their possession, therefore it
is thefrs. You have a soleman trust that
God has given you.
In this vast assemblage there may be
seine ho have misappropriated trust
fu ds.' Pdt theii back, or, if you have
so hopOlessly infolved them that you
cannot put tbem back. confess the
whole thing to those whom you have
Wronged, and . you will sleep better
nights, and you will have the better
chance for your soul.
What a sad thing it would be, if
after you are dead your administrator
should find out from the account-books,
or from the lack oC vouchers, that you
not only were bankrupt In estate, but
that you lost your soul, If all the-trust
funds that have been misappropriated
should suddenly fly to their owners,
and all the property that has been pur
loined should suddenly go back to its
owners, it would crush into ruin every
city in America.
A MISSIONARY's SERMON.
A missionary on one jr tiih islan'ds-of
the Pacific preached on dishonesty, and
the next morning he looked out of his
window. and he saw his yard full of
goods of all kinds. He wondered, and
asked the cause of all this. "Well,'
said the natives, "otr gods that we
have been worshipping permit us to
steal, but according to what, you said
yesterday, the God of heaven and earth
will not allow this, so we bring back
all these goods, and we ask you to help
us n taking them to the places where
they belong." If next Sabbath all the
ministers in America should preach
sermons on the abuse of trust funds,
And on the evils of purloining, and the
sermons were all blessed of God, and
regulations were made that all these
things should be taken to the city halls,
it would not be long before every city
hall in America would be crowded from
cellar to cupola.
Let me say in the most emphatic
manner to. all young men,
DIEIHONESTY WILL NIWE[ PAY.
An abbot wanted to buy a piece of
ground, and the owner would not sell
it, but the owner finally consented to
let it to him until he could raise one
crop, and the abbot sowed acorns-a
crop of two hundred years! And I toll j
you, young man, that the dishonesties
which you plant in your heart and life
will seem to be very insignificant, but
they will grow up until they will over
shadow you with horrible darkness,
overshadow all time and all eternity.
It will not be a ciop for two hundred
years, but.a crop for everlasting ages.
I have also a word of comfort for all
who suffer from the malfeasance or
others, and every honest man, woman t
and child does suffer from what goes on
in financial scampdom. Society is so
bound together, that all the misfor
tunes which good people suffer in busi
ness matters ,come from the misdeeds
of others. Boar up under distress,
strong in God, lie will see you
through, though your misfortunes
should be centupled. Philosophers tell
us that a cohimn of air forty-five miles
In height rests on every man's head anid
shoulders. 'But that is nothing comn
pared with the pressure that busmiess
life has puit upon many of you. God
made up his mind long ago how many
or how few dollars it would be best for
you to have. Trust to his appomntment.
The doocr will soon open to let you out
and let you ulk What shock of de
light for men who for thirty years have
been in busmness anxiety, wvhen they
shall suddenly awake in everlasting
holiday!
On the maps of the Arctic regionsa
there are two places whose names are
remnarkable, given, I suppose, by some
Polar expedition: "Cape Farewell" and
"Thank- God Harbor."' At this last
the .Polarfs wintered in 1871, and the
Tigress -In 1873. Some .ships have
passed the Cape, yet never reached the
Harbor. Blut from what I know of
many of you, I have concluded that
though your voyage of lifre may be very
rough, run into by iceberga on this side
and icebergs on that, you will in due
time roach Cape Farewell, and there
bid gebd-bye to all annoyance, and soon
after drop anchor in the calm and im
perturbable waters of Thank God Hiar
bor--"Where the wicked cease from
troubling, and the weary are at rest."
BInI Nye's Autograph FlIend.
"Yes,'" saId Bill Nye, "the autograph
peop)le pursue me with dome avidity,
but I've just got the best of one of them
in rather a remarkable way. While at 1
Omaha I received a registered letter, 1
enclosed with a letter from my wife.
When I opened the registered letter I I
found it read something like this: "My
dear sir-I have very much desired your
autograph, but 'feel that you have so
many applicationb of the kind that you
would not comply with my request if
put in the ordinary way. I have, .i
therefore, registered this letter, know- .I
lng that you will receive it, and that
you will be forced before receiving it to 4
sign the receipt, wvhich will be forward
ed to me. Thanking you, in advance
for your kindness $n furnishing me the1
desired autograph, I am etc. etc.' .I
wonder what that man said when, in
stead of my signature, hie found that of
Mrs. Nye!"
There has been much discussion as' to
'the nest of.the fiamingo, Aud.ubon and
the older unaturalists stating that it was
a pile of earth heaped up iin a cone tw o
or three feet high, upon which the bird'
sat, its feetijnst touching the g-ound.
Tis is denied by later ornithologs
as Professor BairdI and others. Pro.
fessor Woodman however,.ltoly came
upon a iolobay In Soeuthera 1
where the nests were all hI h tasgim
by Audubon. lie approache thebird
an 6ee them before they , would
leave the nlest..* PrQfesaQE Woodidaan
ao discovetod a small flore bird that
instead of making a hest deposited its
eggs ini bitalve thells along the shore,
in which receptacles they were ti'ob'
ably hatched hv thensn.
UNdNIIACTiDIt IN hAND WRITING.
A Dardt 1yacioe, .Girl. Sees Much In
her Welt-to-do, Unole's Fist.
"Oh, incle," said, the dea'r, vivacious
girl. - "Ive got. something I want to
tell youl"
"All right, Isabel, all right; go ahead
and he beamed on his niece
'~Itib4aoilt our character; I know
It just as well as if -I had known. you a
long time, and here this is the first day
[ ever saw you.
"Oh, I suppose your father-"
"No; no one ever told me a word. I
read it - ih your handwriting. You
know I have learned to read character
in writing, and so I read yours and
know it perfectly."
"Indeed.:'
"O yes. isn't it nice? Yes, you see
t got a couple- of your business letters
to papa down at the office, and your
3haraoter was just as clear to me as
3ould be. 'Your down strokes indicate
great force and decision and your cap
tale are large, which show lofty imag
Ination. Then all the way t irough
your writing'I could detect great ben
volence and love of doing good."
"Er-um," said the old man as he
rubbed his head. "Well"
"Then your 'R's' and T'' and 'B's'
ihow groat fancy and love of the beau
iful; and the decided full stop indi
3ates that you have no fickleness about
you, and the line of writing 1nclins up
3lightly, which means loftiness of aim
md a high purpose of life."
""Hah. Anything more?"
"Oh, yes, your 'M's' -and 'W's' read
ly tell that you have a fine poetical and
trtistic feeling, and your 'D's' and 'S's'
tre exactly like those of the most cele
rated musicians; then I should judge
hat you were endowed with reverence
md the love of truth, and had also ex
ellent judgment and a well-balanced
nind."
"Mebbel That all?"
"No. I read lots more. You have
t strong love of home and family, which
hows in your small letters, and the
say you round your characters indi
Iates much ability for organization as
well as great business aptitude; the way
rou dot your 'l's' abows liberality and
lesire to give every man his due; a cer
ain unevenness to some letters Indicate
iuthor and originalaty, combined with
earty good fellowship; and you cross
your 't's' so near like all orators and
tateemen that I really wonder you
iavo never entered public life and got
uto Cwigres."
"Hey? Hey? Go ea"
"Well, I don't think of much more
ust now, except that your signature
eemed to me to vary rather more from
he body of your writing than min t
eople's, but that, I suppose, is because
'ou have to write it so often. I thought
detected a little stubbornness in it, as
vell as a shade of bigotry, and some
ndications of a quick and 'high tem
wr, and perhaps a little- that would in
Licate a lack or appreciation of other
oople's accomplishments, with a fair
ouch of eembativeness- and inability to
,rasp new ideas. But,. then, that's
othing. 0, I do want to show you
he lovely Christmas ,present papa gave
namma,, and she tripped, away with
Mn engaging smile.
"Isn't it wonderfui."' sai lIsabel's
oung man, who sat across the ro . m on
ho edge of tihe sofa, "how Miss Isabel
an read character from handwriting?
leally surprising?"
"Ya-e-a-y.-a-e-s,"Esaid, the- old man;
'y-a-e-s, yery wonderful.. remarkably
urprisingi1 Tihe dodgastedost,. wonder
ullest thing I ever saw I" A.nd the old
nan got up and glared over his. spec
aches after lisa lat. "Ya-e-s, duanmed
urprising, I must say I I ire a slimpsy
egged, shallow-minded,, young. m,n
hat looks like you, and pay him eight
lollars a week to wr.ito all my~ basiness
etters, and all I ever do. is to signi my
name to. 'em? Oh, yes, awvful .woender
ul." And he went out the front door
Lnd nearly sprained his foot in board
nig a street-car, and: ripped and swore
ndo(lr his breath till he scared off two
ady passengers.
idde~' Know Ho Was President.
When Charles cocker was at k.orta
and on h's spike tour oyer the Califor
Ia anid Oregon. an incident occurred
rhich is illustrative of the bewildering
nagnmtudle of this railway interests of
hat gentleman. fle received a call at
he Esmond house from the general
nanager of the Orogonian railway, a
Itte narrow gauge formerly uinder the
ontrol of a 8eotch company. Mr.
lrpoker regarded the visit as purely
omplimientary, but whenm the narrow
~ange manager began to talk about the
prospects of hits line, the need of repairs
at certain points, and gave the magnate
lie assurance. thati it was a fairly. prog,.
erous concern, Mr. Urocker's mind
oecame clouay. He' clearly did not
:now what the man was driving at.
itill the -olflial went on until he was
nterrupted by a friend who happened
o be present, and who said:
"Mr. U3rooker. doesn't understand
rhat all lihis is about."
"Oh, I guess he does," said the gen
ral manager, with a confident iir. "I.
nuess he knows that he Is president of
his railroad."
"But i'm---if he did," waid Mr.
Jrocker, "until you said so this mo
nent."
The Incident created a ripple of
nerriment among the railroad men
vho happened .to be present, and some
f the P'ortland magnates who heard
~he story-thought a great deal less of
heir railroad interests when they re
looted on the'fact that here'was a nman
rho was president of a railroad .and
iidni't know it.
An .lmprgvemlent i1 conduits for
ilectric Wires has-boen patenited by a
Ngew Yorker. The condiut is designed
;o-be place6d ih the street with itaverti
Sal side against the curbstonle, the
iover fprming the gutter; or it oarn be
placed under the ou er part of the side
salk, it. '~ial Bide forming the
lurbaoeand the cover the outer, part
)f the sidewalk, the whole being do.
iigned to fully protect the wires and
Elve easy access thereto,
--The four girders of the tffel
tower are in .place, and the work' is
rirdner fast.
harry and Ih'" see W.
IUarry sat on the %with his
paint-ing book, for which h4 ' thougIt
ho should get a prize, as he Nas paint
ing it'with much care. 1
Ills mother had said to hin- .
"Do not be. in a hurry over the pic
tures, but take pains."
The win-dow was o-pen, for t was a
hot day, and Har-ry could hjar the
voices of some child-ron in a fled near.
One said :
"ee-saw, Mat-ger-y Daw."
"I won-der what they are doing?"
said Har-ry.
Then he got up and put his boic on
the ta-ble, and look-ed out of the wil
dow.
In a field not far a-way some d,ild
ren were at play; they had put a long
plansk a-cross a tres-tle. On one em sat
a boy, and at the other a wo-nan atd a
girl was pull-ing down the plank so
that he went high up, quite as high as
the pal-lngs..
Then an-oth-or child had a turn on
he plank, and then 6an-oth-er. Aid
Harry said to himself:
"It must be ver-y nice ; I shoukl ll;e
to have a.ride."
Just then his moth-er came into tl3
room, and %Harry said to her, "01,
may I go and ask the child-ren to lo
me have a ride?"
His moth-er look-ed out of thg win
dow. She know who the woman was.
"Yes," she said, "I know Mrs.
Smith, and her.child-ren are good child
ren, so you may go and ask them if you
may have a see-saw on the plank."
So Har-ry put on his hat, and ran
a-cross the field, aid said:
"I have seen you play-ing from the
win-dow and I have come to ask you
if you will be so kind as to let me have
a ride on the plank. It must be ver-y
nice."
The boy who was on the plank a-gain
lump-ed off as soon as ho touch-ed the
ground, and said :
"Oh! yes; bt you must held fast,
for the plank is not ver-y stead-y."
So Mar-ry. took his place, and: he
went up.and down man-y times.
"I like it ver-y much," he said when
he got off; "and I thank you for let
ting me have a ride."
Then he went back to the house,, and
took his paint-ing book, and fin-ish-ed
paint-iug the page. He took great
pains, so that when it was done it
looked ver-y well.
'Per-haps I shall get a prize,"'said
Har-ry to his moth-er.
"I hope you will," said his moth.er;:
"but if not, you will have done the best
you can, and if the book is quite neat
and clean. .i shall give you. a prize my
self."
Suflering.t L:e Sake QM' Knowledgo..
One evening a few years ago, a.
schooner dropped anchor in an un
known bay on the east coast of New
Guinea. A beat put off from the ves
sel, landed;'a man and his portmanteau.
on the beach,- and put back again, '.Dhe
schooner at once sailed away, leaving
the solitary figure on the beach in the
darknese. No white man had ever yis
Ited that savage coast before, and+ no
man ineaired by a less lofty purpose
would thus have veunt10d among the
utterly unknown savages of Astolabe
bay. The man was Dr. Miklucho.
Maclay, the- Russian ethnologist, and
his burning zeal to add to human
knowledge, led id, like many otiher
heroes of seience, to- forego all om
fort and hazardl his lhfe. When. the
natives next moring' found the white
man sitting on the beach, they thought
the strange- object had; dropped from
the sky. They nearly kilIjed him in
their experiments to determine
whethen .he was a god. Th.eN im
prisoned. him In a hut and watched
him day and night. They nearly
starved him, because a god should not
require-food.. They tied him to-a tree
and shob arrows el.eqe to his heoad and
neck, because, if he were a. god, hie
should not be frightened. T wo.of the
arrows, inflicted severe flesh wounds
upon the helpless captive. Then they
pressed their speaus against his teeth
to make him open his mouth~, and In
many ether savage ways soreL tested
his,temper, o#age and strenigth.
.ti last they decided that he had
dropped -from the moon and that he
was not -a god, because hiis wounds.
bled anid he neoded food,. buti they
voted, IIm a good fellow- and grew
daily more andi more fond of him, be
cause he was always ohettul, how
ever, mueh they annoyed him, and .
many of their sicke doon' recovered un,
der his Skillful care. For two yeara.
Dr. Maclay lived among these savages
feeling amply repaid for. illthle termi
ble sacrifices. by the WepMrh of soien
tiae facts he was ab'e to' collect.
Money eould' not have temhpted h&rm
thus to jeopardize his life and give. ip
every civilized comfort, but the facts
he gathered were needed to complete
his long studies among the races or the
western Paciaic, with the ardor oli the
born devotee of soiemce lie was eager
to make any sacrifice thatswould yield
him the knowledge he scught.
The Gormnan Crown~ Prinoeas.
"The German Crown Princess, saysI
Dr. Moreli Mackenzie, "Is a moaoel
nurse, having all her feelings unde4J
strict control and suffering withoul;
making any sign. I do not think I ca
be accused of . fluniceyism, but Itit
the sitaple truth, that she is the mog
remarkable woman I -have ever me
Her knowledge of science is somethLi.
quite extraordinary, and she isn
thoroaighly posted in the pathology a ~
surgery of-the larynx., I consider ti
very few medical mnei--not speclali .
-..would be able to acquit themeel ,%
satisfactorily if examined on theea
Jects,.by thle Crown Princess. 8!she ~
cussed the oplhions of a)the physicl
and the various Su# aions for tr
ment, critteising eac with the
perfeot knowledge and Judgment,
there is no. spee f~ 'blue' a ui
Her manner, when she cares
has an indesorlbale fasoinatlod
it, which makes one understa t~
devoted feeling of personal ioya)t
has sometimes been felt for pri
l.oan only say that if all royal pei~?~.\4
ages were like this exalted Ia
her gallant husband, republica 1~
would soon be extinct tradition,